In November, the earth was quiet and still. The autumn wind swept through, scattering fallen leaves, always leaving an inexplicable sense of melancholy.

A remote small mountain village.

There weren't many houses, perhaps a few dozen, all made from piled-up earth.

At the village entrance, a group of children were playing, romping around...

Beside them, under the Old Kui Tree, sat a young man, an ordinary young cultivator from the mortal realm.

Having heard of opportunities here, he came to seek them out.

However, after guarding the village for days, he saw nothing unusual and was quite disappointed.

Suddenly...

A child of about seven or eight pointed to the sky and shouted, "Look quickly, what's that?"

Whoosh!

Everyone looked up, including the young man under the Old Kui Tree.

In the sky above the Heaven Domain, a black dot appeared.

Soon it began to enlarge, meters, dozens of meters, hundreds of meters... until after a dozen or so breaths, it had already reached hundreds of feet across.

It covered this part of the sky, blotting out the sun and casting enormous shadows.

The young man by the Old Kui Tree came to his senses, shouting in horror, "Run, quick... leave this place."

But it was too late.

The gigantic black dot covered this area, completely enveloping the mountain village.

The young man was dumbfounded.

The group of children were also in turmoil, their minds blank.

Boom!

The black dot fell to the ground, a thunderous crash echoed out, resounding throughout the Southern Diaspora.

This area began to collapse, mountains, rivers, buildings, countless ancient cities, and small towns, all turned to nothing in that moment.

In the distance, cultivators showed expressions of shock and hurried in this direction.

Various major powers were also alarmed and sent their strong warriors in response.

Wuji Sect.

Hongxiu suddenly raised her head: "It's here!"

As early as half a year ago, Shisan had calculated that a terrible catastrophe would befall the mortal realm, so... she had been waiting, silently making arrangements.

Now hearing the booming sound, covering the entire Southern Diaspora, she knew that catastrophe had arrived.

The Fairy opened her eyes slowly, uttering a sentence: "A corpse."

Everyone: "???"

A corpse?

What is this?

When the first Human Clan cultivator reached the area, he saw the thing that had fallen from the sky, his face full of terror and disbelief.

A corpse...

A gigantic corpse, as tall as hundreds of feet, broad as a mountain.

Not only that, it was covered entirely in blood, hair, skin, clothing, all over, making it appear extremely eerie and strange.

The corpse had descended feet first towards the earth, not any other part.

Now, half its body was embedded in the ground, only the upper half exposed, from which a dense network of red lines spread out from the neck, covering a stern face.

At first glance, it exuded an aura of authority without anger.

Probing with Divine Sense revealed no detectable fluctuations in breath, but... no one would believe it was just an ordinary corpse...

Before long, more and more cultivators arrived here, gasping at the sight of the corpse from afar.

An old man seemed to see something, his gaze fixed: "Jing."

On the chest of the corpse, beneath the blood-red garments, from the left side, one could see an imprint of the word Jing.

"What does it mean?" someone asked.

Jing! 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Those sprawling red lines took root here, as if the word possessed some kind of magic power.

"Falling from the sky, what does it signify?"

"Jing, what does it mean?"

"What a large body."

"Is he from the Human Clan?"

"Don't know."

More and more figures gathered, discussions buzzing incessantly.

Yet so far, no one could discern anything, and... within the corpse, no signs of life, nor any fluctuations of power, just a word and those crimson lines.

Like some people's prank.

But?

Upon closer thought, who could create such a disturbance?

Southern Region!

The White Emperor stared in this direction, silently, and much later, spoke: "The earliest pioneers of the Human Clan."

Spirit Jade was moved: "My lord? Do you mean, they still live?"

"No..." The White Emperor whispered: "Dead."

Long ago, there were Human Clan members who fought the heavens, they nearly succeeded, yet they also failed.

That group was called the pioneers.

Each of them was very powerful, possessing immortal strength, able to easily create worlds and control life, not gods, but comparable to gods.

Unfortunately, the Divine Clan was too strong.

The first pioneers of the Human Clan, even after entering the heavens and seeing the Investiture of the Gods, were powerless.

"True Martial Dynasty, Jing Family, for generations have practiced a fearsome skill called corpse refining technique." The White Emperor spoke: "Corpse refining, corpse control."

"This skill is quite cruel, requiring live humans for refining."

Spirit Jade turned pale: "Live refining?"

The White Emperor nodded: "Yes!"

"The earliest pioneers of the Human Clan were so strong, can they be refined too?" Spirit Jade asked.

This was an unsolved question.

The greatest flaw of the corpse refining technique is that it requires live humans, willing ones, in their strongest state for refining, otherwise... effectiveness is greatly reduced.

She had heard Fuxi mention this.

But?

Over endless ages, how many such corpses has the Jing Family refined? Have they overcome those issues, no longer needing live humans, or willing ones?

It just requires that person to have been strong in life.

No solution.

The White Emperor murmured: "I feel it, the darkness is about to descend."

Northern Border!

Amidst a bloody battle, Wuxian slowly opened his eyes, and in a hoarse voice, said: "My lord, have you returned?"

He was very weary.

Over at Wuji Sect.

Hongxiu promptly issued an order to seal the area and convene all sect leaders.

A few minutes later.

In that palace, over a thousand people came, she sat at the top, dressed in red, transcendent, particularly striking, her slightly alluring face quietly sweeping over the crowd below.

After a long period...

Hongxiu spoke: "They are coming."

They!

The Divine Clan, the heavens, terrifying existences.

Below, no one spoke, not knowing what to say.

In recent years, Wuji Sect rapidly developed, foundational strength, disciples, strong warriors, inheritance, and other aspects were all rapidly advancing, yet... even so, to face the Divine Clan, they remained minuscule.

No one believed that the current Wuji Sect could withstand the slaughter of the Divine Clan, nor settle a terrifying dark turmoil.

They couldn't do it.

Even though Sect Master Hongxiu had begun laying plans many years ago.

The falling of a single corpse had already surpassed their imagination.

"All of you are the high ranks of my Wuji Sect, possessing great strength, now... the Divine Clan is about to descend, do any of you have a strategy?" Hongxiu asked.

"Sect Master, I propose that we can join forces with the major Human Clan forces to form an alliance against the Divine Clan, otherwise, relying on a single Sect's strength, it's difficult to face the Divine Clan!" a middle-aged man spoke.

"Difficult..." someone retorted: "The Divine Clan is too powerful, even if all Nine Heavens' Human Clan forces unite, they may not be able to shake them."

"We could involve the Southern White Emperor, she is, after all, an Emperor Realm expert."

"Will she take action?"

"It's worth a try..."

"Didn't they say Chen Pingping had once slain a god?" an up-and-coming management level person raised this question.

Chen Pingping from the Qingfeng branch had fought in the Northern Border, slain the Demon Emperor, and even entered Huangzhou to quell that terrible turmoil, slaying a God Grid...

Such astonishing achievements sufficiently demonstrated that Chen Pingping's strength had reached an unfathomable level.

If the Divine Clan descended, Chen Pingping taking action could surely quell it.

Someone shook their head: "That was just a God Grid, trapped for countless years, weary beyond measure, with little power remaining, Chen Pingping naturally could easily slay it, but now it's the actual Divine Clan descending."